Sheriff’s office attorney escorted from building after discussion breaks down
Robbinsville – For almost two hours March 21, the Graham County Board of Education, sheriff’s office and members of the public discussed the change of jurisdiction for school resource officers in a mostly civil matter.
The forum at Robbinsville High School seemed to be wrapping up when Graham County Sheriff’s Office attorney David Wijewickrama asked school board Chair Rodney Nelson if he could speak at the end of the public comment period. Wijewickrama had already addressed the board on behalf of the sheriff’s office earlier in the session, but went up to the podium in an attempt to refute some of the comments made by the two school resource officers who already had spoken: Jeff Knight and Josh Reap.
Some of what Wijewickrama said in his second go-around at the microphone did not set well with the roughly 75 individuals in attendance, who began to argue with Wijewickrama as he was speaking. He took exception with several of the public comments that had just been made.
“If you don’t know what you’re talking about, the law, don’t speak,” a frustrated Wijewickrama said to one resident. “Did you go to law school? No.”
As tensions rose, one resident noted that Wijewickrama had went over his allotted three-minute speaking period, which further drew his ire.
Fuming, Wijewickrama soon returned to his seat next to Sheriff Brad Hoxit, with Reap asking for another opportunity to speak. Nelson granted the request and Reap began his rebuttal, which brought Wijewickrama out of his seat.
The two engaged in a shouting match, while Nelson sat above on the stage and pounded his gavel, demanding Wijewickrama return to his seat. Words were exchanged as “You stand down!” was instructed from both parties.
The sparring stemmed from a recent incident in which an unidentified student searched for the word “bomb” using the district’s computers, which alerted the system’s monitoring filter.
School officials admitted that they learned of the matter late on a Friday afternoon, but did not contact the sheriff’s office until the following Monday. The student involved was reportedly expelled.
“You failed!” Wijewickrama shouted, while being pulled away by Hoxit.
Reap remained at the podium, but continued to yell back at Wijewickrama. The attorney was quickly led away by Hoxit and asked to leave the campus.
Moments later, an unidentified member of the public left the room in tears over the incident.
Graham is one of only four counties remaining in North Carolina that does not afford jurisdiction of school resource officers to the sheriff’s office: the others are Cherokee, Mecklenburg and Moore, said Chief Deputy Cody George, who previous served as a local school resource officer himself. To aid their side of the debate, the local office asked Swain County Sheriff Curtis Cochran to share his experience with having school resource officers underneath the oversight of local law enforcement.
Regardless of the contention, the universal consensus between both sides – as well as the public – continued to be that the safety of students is priority No. 1. This was a point maintained by everyone from Hoxit to Superintendent Angie Knight and assistant superintendent Robert Moody, who oversees school resource officers Knight (middle and high school) and Reap (elementary school).
Knight and Moody both agreed on another stance: they said the issue should have been discussed behind closed doors.
Their belief is that public discussion is another method of jeopardizing the safety of the district’s students.
Hoxit remained firm on his stance that bringing school resource officers under the sheriff’s office umbrella would help streamline communication. He also noted that the switch would allow SROs to have jurisdiction over matters that occur off-campus.
No decision was made on the matter, which came to the forefront of the public’s attention after Hoxit, George and Brooks all appeared at the March 5 board of education meeting to pitch the concept. One of Hoxit’s campaign promises was to bring SROs underneath the sheriff’s office jurisdiction.
Both meetings can be viewed in their entirety at either grahamstar.com, or on The Graham Star’s YouTube page.